As a granddaughter of the monarch in the male line, Elizabeth held the title of a British princess, with the style Her Royal Highness, her full style being Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York. At birth, she was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle, The Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father. Although her birth did generate public interest, there was no reason to believe then that she would ever become queen, as it was widely assumed that the Prince of Wales would marry and have children of his own.[11] In 1936, when her grandfather, the King, died and her uncle Edward succeeded, she was second in line after her father. Later that year, Edward abdicated and her father became king. Elizabeth became heiress presumptive, and was thereafter known as Her Royal Highness The Princess Elizabeth.
Elizabeth studied constitutional history with Henry Marten, Vice-Provost of Eton College.[12] She learned modern languages, and still speaks French fluently.[13] A Girl Guides company, the 1st Buckingham Palace Company, was formed specifically so Elizabeth could socialise with girls her own age. Later she was enrolled as a Sea Ranger.[14]
In 1939, the Canadian government wanted Elizabeth to accompany her parents on their upcoming tour of Canada. However, the King decided against this, stating that his daughter was too young to undertake such a strenuous tour, which ended up being over a month long.[15] Elizabeth had probably met her future husband, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark in 1934 and 1937.[16] After another meeting at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in July 1939, Elizabeth, though only 13 years old, fell in love with Philip, and they began to exchange letters.[17]
World War II
Princess Elizabeth changing a vehicle wheel during World War II.
In September 1939, with the outbreak of
World War II, Elizabeth and her younger sister, Margaret, stayed at
Balmoral Castle, Scotland, from September to Christmas 1939, until they moved to
Sandringham House,
Norfolk.
[18] From February to May 1940, they lived at
Royal Lodge, Windsor, until moving to
Windsor Castle, where they stayed for most of the next five years.
[19] The suggestion that the two princesses be
evacuated to
Canada was rejected by Elizabeth's mother; she said, "The children won't go without me. I won't leave without the King. And the King will never leave."
[20] The princesses remained at Windsor, where they staged
pantomimes at
Christmas in aid of the Queen's Wool Fund.
[21] It was from Windsor that Elizabeth, in 1940, made her first radio broadcast during the
BBC's
Children's Hour, addressing other children who had been evacuated from the cities.
[At the end of the war in Europe, on
Victory in Europe Day, Elizabeth and her sister mingled anonymously with the celebratory crowds in the streets of London. She later said in a rare interview, "we asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves. I remember we were terrified of being recognised ... I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief.
The couple are
second cousins once removed through King
Christian IX of Denmark and third cousins through Queen
Victoria. Before the marriage, Ph
the Princess still required
rationing coupons to buy the material for her gown, designed by
Norman Hartnell.
[34] Elizabeth and Philip received 1347 wedding gifts from around the world.
[35] At the ceremony, Elizabeth's
bridesmaids were her sister; her cousin,
Princess Alexandra of Kent; Lady Caroline Montagu-Douglas-Scott;
Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester; her second cousin,
Lady Mary Cambridge; Lady Elizabeth Mary Lambart (now Longman), daughter of
Frederick Lambart, Earl of Cavan; The Honourable Pamela Mountbatten (now Hicks), Philip's cousin; and two maternal cousins, The Honourable
Margaret Elphinstone (now Rhodes) and The Honourable
Diana Bowes-Lyon (now Somervell).
[36] Her
page boys were her young paternal first cousins,
Prince William of Gloucester and
Prince Michael of Kent.
[36] In post-war Britain, it was not acceptable for any of the Duke of Edinburgh's
German relations to be invited to the wedding, including Philip's three surviving sisters.
[37][38] Elizabeth's aunt,
Princess Mary, Princess Royal, allegedly refused to attend because her brother, the
Duke of Windsor (who abdicated in 1936), was not invited due to his marital situation; she gave ill health as the official reason for not atte
Despite the death of the Queen's grandmother
Queen Mary on 24 March 1953, the
Queen's coronation went ahead in
Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, in accordance with Mary's wishes. The entire ceremony, save for the anointing and communion, was televised throughout the Commonwealth, and watched by an estimated 20 million people in Britain, with 12 million more listening on the radio.
[48] Elizabeth wore a gown commissioned from
Norman Hartnell, which was embroidered with floral emblems for the countries of the Commonwealth: English
Tudor rose, Scots
thistle, Welsh
leek, Irish
shamrock, Australian
wattle, Canadian
maple leaf, New Zealand
fern, South African
protea,
lotus flowers for India and Ceylon, and Pakistan's
wheat,
cotton, and
juteExcerpted From;
Wikipedia-En
